In order to
advance rational HIV vaccine
designs that can efficiently
generate long-lived mucosal
immunity, better tools for
measuring mucosal immune
responses in humans are needed.
Standardization of specimen
collections has focused
primarily on mucosal secretions
to
evaluate antibody responses.
By contrast, less effort has
been devoted to optimize and
standardize the collection of
mucosal secretions and tissues
to identify both innate and
adaptive cellular responses.
Thus, precise and comprehensive
characterization of mucosal
cellular immunity using
well-standardized specimen
collection methods and detection
assays are critically needed.
This program will guide vaccine
and study designs to ultimately
determine which regimens
efficiently induce mucosal
HIV-specific responses, and
furthermore, which strategies
may potentially enhance HIV-1
infection through mucosal immune
activation.

Mission of the Mucosal
Immunology Group

The mission of the Mucosal
Immunology Group is to identify
critical areas of need for a
Scientific Agenda that will
guide future mucosal studies.
Addressing the questions within
the Scientific Agenda will lead
to improvement and
standardization of mucosal
specimen collection for use in
clinical trials and assay
development for an enhanced
understanding of HIV-specific
cellular immunity in the mucosa.

Scientific Agenda Top
Priorities

The DAIDS-sponsored Mucosal
Immunity Workshop held in June
2009 presented an opportunity to
identify areas of focus in
mucosal immunology that will
advance the field. The
recommendations brought forward
from that meeting form the basis
for the Mucosal Immunology Group
Scientific Agenda. The
Scientific Agenda sets the
course for the Mucosal
Immunology Group in two major
areas:

Develop
standardized
protocols for
mucosal sample
collection,
storage, and
transportation
for use in
clinical trials.

Standardized
assays to
measure and
characterize the
major effector
and memory
mucosal immune
responses in the
GI and GU
tracts.